Thursday's Daily Pulse

What you need to know about Florida today

| 11/16/2017

Prescription drug deaths keep rising in Florida

After declining for years, prescription drugs killed more people in Florida last year than heroin and cocaine combined, according to the latest state figures. Drugs were involved in 11,910 deaths across the state last year, according to a report Wednesday from the Florida Medical Examiner’s Commission. More from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the AP.

The non-profit U.S. Green Building Council developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system to evaluate buildings based on their environmental impacts and to ultimately encourage sustainability. This report is an in-depth look at green developments around the state, with statistics, profiles of green communities and updates on solar projects at utility companies.

Florida opened a fake alligator farm to catch poachers

The investigation began after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission received intelligence reports suggesting that wild alligators and eggs were being poached and laundered through some of the state’s alligator farms. [Source: National Geographic]

The richest Floridian has a big beef with Bitcoin. Thomas Peterffy, founder and chairman of futures commission merchant and broker-dealer Interactive Brokers LLC, took out a full-page ad in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal that warns the rise of Bitcoin could destabilize the economy. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Chicken processor settles water pollution suit in Florida

Pilgrim's Pride Corp. settled the suit with Environment Florida and the Sierra Club on Wednesday, agreeing to pay $1.4 million and to take steps to eliminate the plant's waste. The plant, which cuts up and packages chickens for retail sale, is in Live Oak. [Source: AP]